EgYpT day#7

this was our last day in Cairo but boy was it fun! We ended our adventures in Cairo by going to the Muhammad Ali Mosque and al-Nasir Muhammed Mosque. The Muhammad Ali Mosque is done in the Ottoman style and largest one built in the 19th century. I actually saved an Egyptian pound that has this mosque printed on it. totally saving that one. it is a large landmark no matter where you are in Cairo. inside was beautiful, it was lit with old fashioned light bulbs in glass jars.

and when we got onto the bus for lunch we had boxes of KFC waiting for us. haha that still cracks me up- it seems so random and appeared from no where. when i first saw it i shouted "MANNA!" haha my humor has regressed into nerdy Old Testament puns. don't judge haha.

on the way out of Cairo we drove through the City of the Dead. aka the cemetary of Cairo that the poor people took over and live in. that was quite memorable... and made me sad. but this picture of a restroom in egypt makes me super happy. WC mean water closet. but the woman's face is just too dang funny!

our route out of Egypt was the same one the Israelites took on their Exodus. We even made the same stops they did- at Elim and Rephidim.

Elim is an Oasis and there we met some Bedouin children. (nomads who live in the dessert) there was a little girl who i sat next to and talked some Arabic with. her two little brothers were climbing the palm trees like monkeys. a group of us girls asked to take some pictures with them and they said ok. but as we kept taking pictures with them the two little boys kept acting funny. they would get close to some girls but whenever i got close they scatterd. i was totally confused until my friend pointed out that i was the only one with long blonde hair and all the other girls had super dark curly hair. so i scared them with my light hair haha i felt so bad.

at the end of the long drive to the middle of the Sinai penisula we made it to the Morganland Hotel and set our alarms for 2 am to climb Mount Sinai the next day!

EgYpT day# 6

the morning was all about Old Cairo- we went to different ancient churches and synagogues. At St. Sergius (which is a Coptic Christian Church) we listened to a sermon in Ancient Egyptian! Which is only spoken in Coptic Churches now. Then we went to Ben Ezra Synagogue. The last one was the Hanging Church of St. George- the one who slayed the dragon.

the main attraction of the day was next. EpYpTiAn MuSeUm and the MUMMY ROOMS!!!!!!!!! i can not tell you how excited for this i was! this was spectacular! all my years of learning history and art was rewarded- i saw all the pieces i studied about! (aka palette of narmer and statue of khafre. i got the chills man. the chills) i went around with Dr. Muhelstein- i would be stupid to pass an opportunity to be toured around with him. we both agree that the statue of khafre is easily the best piece in the museum. i learned so dang much- it would be impossible to write it all. i also king tut's gold mask and his treasures. then came the rooms of all rooms----- the mummy room. i could not wrap my mind around that fact that i was staring into the actual people's faces. the chills returned again. i saw Rameses II and Hatshepsut. that is just unreal!

Lunch at Hard Rock Cafe was heavenly and we then went to Khan al-Khalili Bazaar. lets just say this about the bazaar- if this was my final exam on egyptian shopping i passed with flying colors. at one point i was literally surrounded by 5 (not kidding 5) Egyptian men all pressuring me into their stores to buy. "blue eyes- over here!" "do you like this scarf blondie?" "habibi! (Arabic for my love)" "you from Australia?" "come to my store!" "no come to my store- i give you a special price" "you married?" me being the pro i am did not get overwhelmed or scared or pressured. i simply waited for one of our BYU boys to finish bargaining, pushed past their circle and walked away. i even walked away from a deal on scarves on which i knew i was being ripped off. israel never seemed so tame. haha.

EgYpT day #5

Our second day in Luxor was sweet!
we started off with taking a motor boat ride to KARNAK TEMPLE. no big deal.
oh man- there is so much i could say about Karnak. It is massive, almost everyone in Egyptian history added onto it. it was breathtaking. One of my favorite parts was the carving with the city of Judea on it. this showed that there really was an Exodus and the Israelites established a city (Jerusalem) and that the Eyptians attacked it. we barely scratched the surface on what there was to see at Karnak. just layers and layers of history there.

from Karnak we took a carriage ride to the LUXOR TEMPLE. i loved this because it was not only fun but very symbloic. every year the ancient Egyptians would take the exact same route we took from Karnak to Luxor Temple. they would take an idol of their god Amon and carry it to the other idol of Amon at Luxor- the point was to restore the Karnak Amon's kingship. the route they took was lined with sphinxs. so i just reacted that. pretty legit!!!!!!!! i liked Luxor too- i thought it was interesting to see Alexander the Great's contribution, Ancient Christian and Islamic additions to it over time. all these relgions all saw the Luxor temple as sacred.

then lunch back at the hotel and free time! which meant a nap, shower and reading by the pool..... and getting thrown into the pool.... fully clothed....... twice. thanks james, dan, jonathan, and brandt. hahaha

that night we had a traveled back to Cairo via MIDNIGHT TRAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!! harry potter egyptian style anyone???? the train was the ultimate Egypt experience which everyone should do. the train was run down, creepy, dirty, crummy food and I LOVED IT! we had ssssooo much fun. we all crammed into the tiny compartments and bed, ran from car to car, and even filmed a mini movie. murder mystery on an midnight train to cairo. you can't get more classic than that. and at 4 am we woke up in Cairo!

so in the past 48 hours i traveled by:
1. plane
2. taxi
3. bus
4. carriage
5. camel
6. train
7. boat

EgYpT day #4

this was our first day in LUXOR!

1. Valley of the Kings = pure awesomeness. hands down amazing. we weren't allowed to take pictures but i was not going to leave my camera on a bus. unsafe! so i pushed it to the bottom of my bag and totally got through security! haha and the boy behind me got asked if his headset for listening to the professor was a camera. muhahaha. but i did follow the rules and didn't take any pictures. Highlights: we saw King Tut's tomb and he was actually inside! the mummy! aaaahhhhhh! then a small group of us paid extra to go to Rameses the 6th right above. It has the best preserved paint color on it. So 6 of us and Dr. Muhlestein (one of three LDS Egyptologists in THE WORLD) took us around. he even paid a man extra to let us go behind the gate and get right next to his sacrophagus. that is something that i will never get to do again!

2.Funerary Temple of Hatshepsut! Woman power! gotta love a female pharaoh. ps the heat was not even bad. i discovered i have a high tolerance for heat. some other students were dropping like flies.

3. Colossus of Memnon was a stop we took while going back for lunch. It was 2 large sculptures of the Amenhotep that the Greeks thought the spirit of Agamenon has gone into. there was some pest of a merchant there that followed me around and kept pointing to his eyes saying "magic eyes!" in a mocking, whining voice.



4. Falukah (river boat) ride to the other side of the Nile where CAMELS were waiting for us!!!!!!!!!!!!! i was uber nervous- i am not the best with animals. even horses make me nervous. and camels are taller and grosser. but they do not full on sprint. so i bucked up and got on that groaning animal and rode it along the Nile! we rode past little villages and huts with little kids passing out flowers. i really enjoyed it except when the camel knelt down i felt like i was going to fall off. but i didn't. and i was happy.



5. After dinner at the glorious Sheradon Hotel (side note: my roomie and i got an entire bungalo to ourselves. aka flat screen tv, 3 head shower, dome over our personal queen size bed= deluxe!) best food in here hands down. you tell them what you want and they grill/make it right in front of you exactly how you want it! anyways- that night i headed out to the Suuq (market) with the Muhlestein family. we took a carriage into town and did some shopping. so much fun- i loved being apart of their family!

EgYpT day#3

Tuesday was our first full day in Egypt and we did not waste any time- we hit the ground running! Here is a checklist of our day:

Giza Pyramids

Sphinx
Memphis and the largest statue in the world of Rameses II
baby sphinx!Tahna and Amy- the two cowgirls trekking out in the Sahara Saqqara:

Tomb of Ti where i saw my all time favorite wall painting! i studied it in ap art history and even had a test question on it. its called Ti hunting Hippos. we made some new friends while there- as in he followed us around the entire timefunny story:

as rach and i walked out of the Tomb of Ti this guard waved at us.

we waved back and then he got his camel to smile at us.

(zoom up on the camel and there is a smile on it. coolest trick)

of course i took a picture of it and so did rachel.

we all laugh and then the guard holds out his hand.

he starts asking for money.

(over here some people will ask for money if you take a picture of them.

its their way of earning money)

i thought "no way. 1) i am not even in the picture 2) you aren't dressed up in a traditional dress or costume 3) you already have a job, which you are currently at meaning you have a way to earn money."

so maybe we are bad people but we just said sorry we don't have any change (which was true and if i knew he would have asked for money i wouldn't have taken the pic)

then proceeded to skip/jog/run/sprint away.

hahah oops.

walking into Ti's tomb. there were beetles down there. just like in the movie "The Mummy"!!!! I got freaked out and could only stay for a few minutes.

"oh the Arab and the Cowgirl should be friends!" - little shout out to the song in Oklahoma

Stepped Pyramid! 1st pyramid in the world

we also went to a papyrus factory at lunch. After all this we had a night flight to LUXOR! What a glamorous life JC students live! This was an Egyptian dream day! This is Talia and I cruising on Egyptian Air.

EgYpT day#2

After we woke up and left the Kibbutz, we crossed the border INTO AFRICA!!!!!! We drove for a really long time across the Sinai peninsula and desert. On the drive down we were reminded of the rules for Egypt:

1. NO WATER - you can only use bottled water, even to brush your teeth

2. no fruit

3. no veggies (oh how sad because i eat those all the time. this was the hardest rule for me......)

4. bathrooms are NOT free

5. bathrooms do not have soap

6. bathrooms do not have toilet paper

7. bathrooms do not have toilets sometimes. turkish style baby- aka hole in the ground.

8. no cold foods- only eat hot things.

We drove under the Suez Canal and then we were in CAIRO!

I really really loved Cairo- it was super green along the Nile, the traffic was cRaZy, the apartment buildings were all red brick with each window a different frame and color with laundry hanging out. and trash everywhere. it gave it a certain charm. (weird i know but i liked the trash haha)

the biggest thing about Cairo was the juxtaposition of ancient with modern. i would see flashy cars driving next to men wearing turbans riding a donkey cart. i would see skyscrapers and then the Pyramids peeking in between them. (ps i literally screamed when i saw the pyramids- they just flashed before me unexpectedly. awesome moment) i liked to wave at all the people on the street- especially the little kids going to school.

we stayed at a posh hotel the Oasis. it was an outdoor complex with private rooms and green lawns everywhere. we dropped off our bags and headed to a light and sound show at the Pyramids and Sphinx! I actually got teary eyed sitting in my seat thinking that I was actually at the Pyramids. I remembered all the times as a little girl I wished to go to Egypt and promising myself that I would make it there one day. (in 6th grade I got a little obsessed and started passingnotes to my bff in hieroglyphics... i am just a nerd) AMAZING FIRST NIGHT!!!!!

light show:

EgYpT day#1

Hello from Israel!

I am proud to report we all made it home

(and by home I mean Jerusalem! isn't that fun to say?!) safe and sound.

No sickness or accidents- just a magical time spent in Egypt!

There is no possible way to say everything I want to say about Egypt so the best way I think is to split it up into a post a day and just give an overview with a few details.

Day #1 we loaded onto busses and drove down towards the Red Sea along the same route that Lehi took out of Jerusalem. We stopped at two Tels- Beersheba and Arad. Tel Beersheba was a place Abraham, Jacob and Isaac spent time in. It is the where Abraham built a well and it used to be a government outpost. Tel Arad was a fortress and the only surviving Israelite temple complex. We actually got to go into the Holy of Holies!

attractive archaeologists

(we went underground to the water system to see the well at Beersheba)

justin and andrew. two of my fav guys here

Rach and I in the Holy of Holies at Arad

That night we spent at a Kibbutz near the border of Israel and Egypt.

The people at the Kibbutz took us up into the Mountains to the sand dunes.

The sand dunes were outrageous! Soft cool sand, moutains, sun-setting, moon rising and billions of stars.

We played in the sand (flung ourselves down and tumbled around) then had a spiritual devotional.

After the sand dunes the Kibbutz put on a BBQ and pool party.

We had american burgers and swam!

Such a wild night!